Archives for July 2, 2007

‘Drury, they said, decided he wanted to play for the Rangers, the team he grew up watching from his hometown in Connecticut. The Sabres were prepared to give Drury the same package the Rangers offered.’

'Quinn said multiple times that it was Drury's decision to return home and accept the Rangers' terms. "They never once countered. They did not want to give us a number and ultimately said they did not want to come back and wanted to go to New York."'

'Drury takes a lot more than goals and grit with him to Manhattan. He also provided the rest of the Sabres with an up-close-and-personal role model, an example of how the game is supposed to be played. At least according to the chemistry-first mantra espoused by Lindy Ruff. As he did with Michael Peca, though, Regier showed the rest of that locker room what happens when the time comes to pay the bill for that leadership and work ethic. He lets someone else pick up the tab.'

'Mair said he's confident that the departures of Briere and Drury won't hurt the team too much. "I think hockey players to a certain extent are opportunistic, and you'll have guys like Tim Connolly or Derek Roy or Thomas Vanek eat up the ice time that's left over from those two guys," Mair said. "Tim Connolly's… gonna move up and be a 1-2 center, and Derek Roy at about a point a game is going to slide in be your No. 2 guy."'

‘“Tell the fans that I was sincere when I said I wanted to stay in Buffalo,” Briere told The News. “That was my priority when the season was over, but at the same time, with any job or anything you do in life, with any employer, you want to feel wanted. What I feel bad about is losing my teammates, losing my coaching staff, and I feel bad being on another team now after spending some great years playing for those fans in Buffalo.”’

'For some reason, such as arrogance, the Buffalo Sabres figured they could get away with trying to muscle co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere when, in fact, General Manager Darcy Regier and owner Tom Golisano didn’t have an ounce of leverage. Apparently, they thought they were smarter than legions of people who have wailed all season to get something done. Boy, they really taught Drury and Briere a lesson, didn’t they?'

‘The onus lies on Regier to lock up his younger folk to the those lengthier deals. Throw five- to- seven years and a little more money than hes worth right now at 28 year old Brian Campbell and toss him a letter, ‘A’ or ‘C’ will work, for his jersey. Lock up 23 year-old Thomas Vanek for a good term, and give him Ilya Kovalchuk money — $5 million — a little early with the understanding that he won’t be unhappy when he’s worth $7 million in two years. What this does has multiple benefits: besides having younger players locked in as potential leaders long-term, it indicates to other players like Ryan Miller, Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford that the team isn’t scared of commitment.’